My dad loved babies. He loved all children, really, but especially babies.
One of the hardest parts of finding out we were expecting a new minihuman was the realization that she would never meet her Baba in this life and that he would not get to hold her, rock her, and sing an original lullaby with her name in it. How can it be that life and death can be so intertwined together?
As I was reaching into the bassinet to get ready for a nighttime feeding the other night, I discovered that one of our pacifiers glowed in the dark. My first thought was “what a brilliant invention!” My second thought quickly followed, “Baba would have loved that.”
I don’t doubt the power of resurrection or pretend to know whether our little one and Baba have already met, but I do know that his life and light will be in our rocking songs and our delight in new baby inventions like glow-in-the-dark pacis.
Thanks be to God for the thin veil between life and death that slows us down and helps us treasure simple pleasures.